The 18th annual Aurora Vacation Meals Drive is about to begin, and this yr the theme could possibly be renewal.
The meals drive begins Saturday and can run by way of Nov. 26, the day earlier than Thanksgiving.
For the Aurora Space Interfaith Meals Pantry, the drive is all the time about renewal – gathering meals to restock the cabinets for the approaching yr.
“It’s a really grassroots meals drive,” mentioned Katie Arko, the pantry’s government director. “It brings in loads of meals for us.”
However this yr, the drive additionally represents the renewal of one of many grocery shops that has been a part of the drive because it began 18 years in the past, Prisco’s Household Market, 1108 Prairie St., Aurora.
The longtime West Facet Aurora grocery had been closed because it suffered intensive storm harm in August, however it reopened Thursday, and can once more be a part of the drive.
Andy Guzauskas, Prisco’s proprietor, bought meals for the meals drive again in August, and thought his retailer can be open nicely earlier than Thursday.
“We thought when all this occurred that we’d be open subsequent week – then, oh, we’d discover one thing else, then we thought we’d be open the subsequent week, and we’d discover one thing else …” Guzauskas mentioned. “However November is simply too vital of a month – for the meals pantry and the neighborhood – to not be open.”
The Vacation Meals Drive in Aurora started 18 years in the past, organized by businessman Daniel Dolan to assist restock the pantry’s cabinets at a time when the necessity goes up. The Aurora Space Interfaith Meals Pantry serves greater than 1,500 households every week, and Arko mentioned that may rise in the course of the vacation season.
The necessity modifications from yr to yr, and Heather Brief, the pantry’s improvement and communications director, identified that this yr, a number of the conventional sources have “diminished because the economic system is getting tight.”
“The worth of groceries stays excessive, jobs are robust proper now,” Arko mentioned. “It has a snowball have an effect on.”
A part of the meals drive can be about getting volunteers, some to work two-hour shifts at one of many grocery shops handing out flyers to advertise the sale of baggage on the shops, and likewise to gather meals. The drive is usually a collection of meals drives held by organizations all through the realm which then donate the collected meals to the pantry.
A lot of church buildings are already concerned in such drives, in addition to service organizations and such teams because the Boy Scouts and Woman Scouts. The Aurora Fireplace Division helps ship meals to the pantry.
One space the place the pantry wants volunteers is for its supply service, which has elevated. The pantry will assemble baggage and ship them, however to take action means extra volunteers to make the deliveries.
“They’re all delivered by volunteers,” Arko mentioned. “There’s a want for individuals who have a few hours every week to ship. The deliveries have triggered us to pivot a bit of bit. We search for artistic methods to verify individuals don’t do with out.”
The fundamental drive nonetheless works primarily prefer it all the time has. Individuals can purchase $5, $10 or $15 baggage of groceries for the meals drive on the collaborating grocery shops every time they store.
Along with Prisco’s, the collaborating shops are Cermak Recent Market, 1250 N. Lake St., Aurora, and Meals Market La Chiquita, 1525 Douglas Street, Montgomery. Each shops have additionally participated for years within the drive.
Individuals may also donate to the drive on-line, by way of the meals pantry web site, www.aurorafoodpantry.org/holidayfooddrive/
The meals drive is sponsored by quite a few Aurora companies and people, together with: Dolan & Murphy; Sue Scheuerman; CyrusOne; Konen Insurance coverage; Aetna; Gerald Subaru of Naperville; Aurora Financial institution & Belief; Douglas Carpet One; Jakes, Inc.; Ald. Jonathan Nunez, 4th Ward; Sam’s Membership; Issue; Outdated Nationwide Financial institution; Bob’s Low cost Furnishings Charitable Basis, Inc.; Aurora Technology; Aurora Fastprint; Mercy Medical Heart; and Mendel Plumbing & Heating.
Steve Lord is a contract reporter for The Beacon-Information.
